About

Zugzwang is a project by Alle Jong, a 3d video computer based environment wich can be played trough a Virtual reality glasses (Oculus Rift Devkit). Alle Jong is a Dutch artist and studied art academy in Groningen, For project Zugzwang he translates his art into virtual reality. Alle Jong explains:

”You could see Zugzwang as a world filled with ideas i made earlier on paper or in my fantasy. Working on a flat canvas is one thing, but ignoring new possibillity’s for creating art that could be far more compelling when talking about an experience, this made me feel nervous. So i started after working for years with different computer software on a new digital project, Zugzwang. Very soon small sketches came alive trough a 3d world in wich you could move around with a virtual glasses, If you move your head when wearing the vr glasses, you also look within that direction, this physical headtracking is stunning. For a better understanding of virtual reality visit the next link: 90 year old grandma playing VR For the first time someone can explore and experience my thoughts in a 3d environment, with you being in it and not looking at it! There is a difference between looking at art, and be in it.

New ways of experience: an example

when walking trough Zugzwang, i discovered things i would never know about my world when looking at a drawing of mine. For instance take the drawing shown at image ”1”. In Zugzwang it takes up to twenty minutes to walk to that huge black object, you start far away from it, it is very strange walking for minutes without the object coming closer. It’s that huge! Your experience of scale is fantastic, your way of looking at this object gets more layered.

image 1 -Drawing by Alle Jong wich you visit in Zugzwang

Virtual Reality glasses combined with head tracking and stereoscopic 3d, sound/music, moving images and characters in a fully 3d environment make you really travel to another dimension. For thousands of years humanity was trying to build machines for manipulating our mind, making us travel to another world. Our brain can imagine whole worlds only by looking at a still image, we learned to read those trough history. For me it is very important not only to paint or draw my worlds, it is old fashioned to only paint or draw as an artist at one hand, for me the most important is making my fantasy as sharp as possible, the mind is always vague, but using computer visuals you can create a real environment. more information and atmospherical footage wil come soon!

image 2 – Still from Zugzwang

For more information about Alle jong his other projects visit: www.allejong.com